Axle/Hub bolts

Hi Guys,

I’ve recently hit a post at low speed which caused my car bolts to snap.. I’ve stripped it down and other than a wrong part everything it good without damage to the half shaft and diff.

No my main question is the bolts need drilling and one of them has slightly e longated... my thought is to drill them out and buy some good quality hitensile nut and bolts but is this ok or safe to do ?

Would it effect the MOT?

I do have the original replacement bolts but ones e longated and they will all need rethreading etc the only other option would be a new axle...

What would you guys do on your vehicle?

Hi

Assuming the other bolt ends come out ok and the threads are still good to hold new bolts; I would consider using a longer bolt in the elongated hole and adding a lock nut. And leave the undamaged threaded holes alone. What caused the metal damage - flange right side, second piccy? Have you checked the half shaft rolls true on a flat surface (checked for bend)?

Bull**** that was low speed

which on is elongated? the all look ok to me in the pic. I would be trying to drill them out without damaging the threads in the axle casing. Start small ensuring it is fully central and slowly increase the drill size. then when nearly at full diameter there should be little enough of the bolt left to either collapse it in on itself and screw out or run a tap through it of th original profile. If done carefully there would should be damage to eh original threads and the bolts removed.
ailing that I would be looking at new axle. As all you actually need is the axle tube the condition is almost irrelevant as you can swap everything else over. You might also get away with a discovery one, I do not know if there are any differences between the them as far as the casing is concerned. .

Dont know how far this is from you or if it for the correct vehicle but for that price you would spend more on drill bits removing the old bolts!
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Low speed? There are 5 10.9 tensile strength bolts snapped there! That's impressive.

But that aside, remove what remains of the bolts and check the internal threads for damage. I'd welds nuts on the the end and run them out. Failing that, try Easiouts, and last resort drilling. I'd steer away from using nuts to re-fix as they don;t have the same strength has the steel on flange, and in some places (top, next to spring plate) there is insufficient space.

In the last picture is looks like the half shaft has struck the internal side of the axle case tube and cased damage, and in the first picture, am I correct in saying that the vehicle is unsupported? If so all the weight is through the half shaft. As Wimblowdriver said, the half shafts will need to be checked / replaced.

Lastly I'd check the diff too to ensure no damage has been caused. If the end of the half shaft has move that much drive end, it will twist the diff.

That halfshaft looks a bit bent to me,

id get another axle case shouldnt be much second hand and stick to land rover bolts and fastenings,its a safety critical part

First thing I'd do is get a jack under that axle tube toute-suite ... the half-shaft looks like it's bending, and I don't blame it!

Then I'd get the wheel off to better see if the disc and caliper are at least still inline or twisted/broken and at the same time remove the half shaft/CV/swivel etc so you can check them all properly. I'd also check the prop and diff for any bends or other issues from such an impact, and the other side of the axle .. heavy metal that's spinning doesn't like to be stopped quickly ... Don't just worry about the threaded holes, you want to also get the mating surfaces flat to each other, I seriously doubt that a simple bolt fix and change will fix everything, if it does you've been immensely lucky.

I agree with @jamesmartin don't mess with 'different' bolts or mending the thread, get an axle tube and replace all your bits back on it, so long as they're flat and straight and still work!

It’s all off and supported that was when it was first done, the half shaft appears straight as a die with no damage done to the spline although I’ll do the rolling check.

It happened at a speed of around 5 to 10 mph believe it or not.. I couldn’t at first until I took the part number of the bolts to my local specialist they gave me a bolt which looked completely different to what was in so I questioned it and his reply was the original part number was superseded as appriently some mild steel bolts ended up on the market so I assume my vehicle had those it or come loose possibly.

This is the one that elongated I put the bolt down b without even turning it just pushed it in... after reading the comments I’m going to look for a new casing as I didn’t notice the damage at first!

Check the replacement casing for worn holes at the trailing arms/ panhard rod mountings. It will be alot easier to repair these areas before it's fitted.

Oh, and check for worn lower damper mount holes too.

Flossie said:

Oh, and check for worn lower damper mount holes too.

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These are very common. I need to repair one of mine but keep putting it off.

Flossie said:

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nice.Why put bolts in prior to welding? Is it to stop splatter getting on the threads?

mick the builder said:

nice.Why put bolts in prior to welding? Is it to stop splatter getting on the threads?

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Yes.

Flossie said:

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Some very nice work. Mine is the rear that is beginning to oval. So possibly slightly more challenging access wise. I will hopefully get around to it soon.

Flossie said:

Yes.

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I shall use that tip, thank you.

dag019 said:

Some very nice work. Mine is the rear that is beginning to oval. So possibly slightly more challenging access wise. I will hopefully get around to it soon.

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I can't picture what the rear is like in my head?
For the front I found a cut down quality blade in a jigsaw did the job quite well at cutting the hole out. Cut down because the blade will hit the axle tube. Don't be tempted to weld a repair over the hole cos the damper stud won't (probably) be long enough.
At least with the rears you haven't got to strip out much unlike the fronts.

Flossie said:

I can't picture what the rear is like in my head?
For the front I found a cut down quality blade in a jigsaw did the job quite well at cutting the hole out. Cut down because the blade will hit the axle tube. Don't be tempted to weld a repair over the hole cos the damper stud won't (probably) be long enough.
At least with the rears you haven't got to strip out much unlike the fronts.

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I think I will first try building the original hole back up with weld as it is only just starting to become oval. If this does not work I will use the same technique you have with new metal.